cautes

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Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Likely a hypercorrection of cōtēs, the plural of cōs (“whetstone, sharpening stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₃- (“to sharpen”), so originally meaning “sharp points, promontories”.[1] See plaudō~plōdō for another possible example of the same hypercorrection. Cognates include Latin catus (“clever, cunning”), cōs (“whetstone”), cuneus (“wedge”) and Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”).

A different suggestion relates it to English heap and Tocharian B kauc (“up, high”), from an irregular-shaped root, as well as with English high, a connection rejected by modern etymologists. The three different stop consonants t~p~k under this suggestion likewise remain unexplained.[2]

Noun

cautēs f (genitive cautis); third declension

  1. a rough, craggy or pointed rock, or cliff; rock, crag
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.366–367:
      “ sed dūrīs genuit tē cautibus horrēns / Caucasus, Hyrcānaeque admōrunt ūbera tigrēs.”
      “But the hard, horrible Caucasus bore you on jagged cliffs, and Hyrcanian tigresses took you to their teats.”
      (Dido portrays Aeneas as being hard-hearted and inhuman. Syncopation: admorunt = admoverunt.)

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

singular plural
nominative cautēs cautēs
genitive cautis cautium
dative cautī cautibus
accusative cautem cautēs
cautīs
ablative caute cautibus
vocative cautēs cautēs

References

  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “cōs”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 139
  2. ^ Pisani, Vittore (1954) “Lat. cautēs, toch. B kauc A koc”, in Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen (in German), volume 72. 1./2., →DOI, pages 95–97

Further reading

  • “cautēs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “cautes”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • cautes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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